A Nonoccupational Source of Mercury Intoxication

Abstract

The sources of exposure to mercury and its compounds are numerous, polymorphic, and often insidious. The fortuitous observation of an increased urinary mercury excretion of 19 μmol/mol creatinine (34 μg/g creatinine) in a gendarme lead us to search for the source of exposure, there being no indication of an occupational exposure to mercury. Increased excretion of mercury was confirmed in a second sample taken by his general practitioner. A measurement of urinary Hg was then suggested to all the members of the family. His two sons had values [0.73 and 1.13 μmol/mol creatinine (1.3 and 2 μg/g)] within …